COMMERCIAL AIRPLANES

NO WRITER ATTRIBUTED
January 12, 1918

War has developed the military airplane to a remarkable extent, and in so doing has built up the commercial machine. Numerous attempts were made before 1914 to establish aerial postal routes, or freight service between places with poor railroad connection. A project has lately appeared to start such a system between London and Paris. Although crossing the Channel was an unusual feat eight years ago, the recent progress in aviation has made that same trip an every-day occurrence. We have read that the governor of Rhode Island traveled by this method when he visited France not long ago. What was seldom done in times of peace has been made a daily necessity by war-time needs. Rivalry for the supremacy of the air is a forceful incentive to make machines in greater numbers and each one superior to previous aircraft. Bombing, reconnaissance and duelling have developed the speed, the capacity and range of modern aircraft. For the present, such progress is immediately turned to war uses, but in the future it will become a source of profit for a peaceful world. Although the destructive side of the present conflict seems most apparent, yet the constructive is ever noticeable.